Yesterday was the Cricket World Cup 2015 Semifinals South Africa vs New Zealand in Eden Gardens New Zealand. I was desperately with all my heart rooting for SA. It was a nail biting finish which resulted in tears LITERALLY for SA. The only word I can think of to accurately describe my reaction is Gobsmacked.
I was crippled and paralyzed with shock for at least 15 minutes after I saw the word 'SIX' against the second last ball of the match by that NZ batsman Elliot in the running commentary of Cricinfo. (For distant future reference, NZ were in a position where they needed 5 to win of 2 balls and Dale Steyn was bowling the last over) Then after reading about the reactions and with all the pictures coming in of the SA player's visible anguish and despair, I almost wept too. I felt overwhelming emotion thundering inside me.
Even a day after, I feel so bad about SA's loss, I just can't bring myself to think coherently about what exactly I want to express in this post about yet another disappointment for SA in a World Cup.
Putting aside all the logical jazz of how NZ deserved to get into the finals, no matter how good you are what matters is how you handle pressure and all that, I want to rant, But what do I rant about? Do I rant about the unfairness of it all...I truly believe that the SA cricket team is one of the if not the most success deserving entity in world sport. And whoever has an idea of cricket the past 20 years or so will have seen how bloody good...how bloody consistent... and how bloody entertaining this team has been THROUGHOUT. SA has had some of the most phenomenal ODI players like Cronje, Rhodes, Kluesner, Pollock, Donald, ABD etc. They have given fans some of the best matches in cricket history. They successfully chased the highest score (434 vs Australia)....they have set the second highest target in ODI history (439 vs WI)...and so many more. How is it fair that even after all this time, such a deserving team does not get its due?
I remember SA vs Aus 1999 WC semifinals is what really hooked me on to cricket. I remember clearly my 9-10 year old self kneeling down to the ground and wailing "No...no...nooooo" when that famous run out happened. It is weird. I dunno why I felt that strong affinity towards the Proteas despite South Africa not even being my country. From that time on...I was a Proteas fan. Then came the 2003 WC which was another disaster (that blasted combination of rain and D/L method again!) that almost gave me a stroke with my all time favourite cricketer Shaun Pollock getting sacked as a captain as a result. Year after year, I was left lamenting over SA's infamous "choking" habit in all those critical matches in global tournaments where they would get knocked out. I guess I have innumerable status on social media like Orkut and Facebook dedicated to this subject. In fact once, I even got a comment - "It would be nice if you could worry about your country for a change!" I remember all those tense situations in a match where I have actually muttered prayers like- "God, they really deserve to win - please please pleeeeeease get them through". Where the WC is concerned, they are yet to be answered,
I guess after all this, probably the most fundamental question that I want to ask myself is - Why care so much? Why go through such roller coaster emotions for a stupid sport and its players?
To answer this question, I first direct my thoughts to AB de Villers - SA captain and one of my favourite current sportspeople. In terms of talent, this guy is a genius,...not from this planet. But what I do love about him the most is a description of him that I read in a newspaper when he started blossoming as a cricketer way back in 2007. The article in the mentioned newspaper went like "What strikes you most about AB de Villers is that he is incredibly humble and down to earth and yet his body language oozes with quiet confidence."
What I am trying to illustrate is that ABD is a classic case of what the SA team represents - A set of incredibly inspiring values worthy of emulation. They are supremely talented, confident, good spirited, ethical, low profile, non flamboyant, let their on field rather than off field antics do the talking, very united as a team, intense and very very passionate about their game, competitive, aggressive when required but not boorish, sporting, humble and very nice. They say that professionally, it is difficult to be well liked and well respected at the same time. But the SA cricket team have managed to be the rare combination of both. The outpouring of anguish, support and sympathy for them from cricket fans world over irrespective of their nationality in platforms like Cricinfo, Facebook etc speaks volumes of what a fantastic unit they are and the high esteem they are held in.
The values that they represent are the values that fans like me admire, the value based on which strive to become the persons we have always wanted to be.I guess that's why it hurts so bad when a sports team/player who is representative of all those values that you cherish don't get rewarded the way that you want them to.
But know what, despite all the heartache, I feel more inspired by the Proteas rather than deflated. As after every loss, I find myself armed with the hope that maybe.... just maybe next time will be their time. Even in the scenario of them never winning a WC in my lifetime or the scenario of them winning a WC but me completely having stopped following and caring about cricket by then, I will never ever ever look back and have regrets all those times I emotionally invested in a sports team and players. The SA cricket team were well worth it.
In short, as Cricket South Africa has so beautifully put it....
I was crippled and paralyzed with shock for at least 15 minutes after I saw the word 'SIX' against the second last ball of the match by that NZ batsman Elliot in the running commentary of Cricinfo. (For distant future reference, NZ were in a position where they needed 5 to win of 2 balls and Dale Steyn was bowling the last over) Then after reading about the reactions and with all the pictures coming in of the SA player's visible anguish and despair, I almost wept too. I felt overwhelming emotion thundering inside me.
Even a day after, I feel so bad about SA's loss, I just can't bring myself to think coherently about what exactly I want to express in this post about yet another disappointment for SA in a World Cup.
Putting aside all the logical jazz of how NZ deserved to get into the finals, no matter how good you are what matters is how you handle pressure and all that, I want to rant, But what do I rant about? Do I rant about the unfairness of it all...I truly believe that the SA cricket team is one of the if not the most success deserving entity in world sport. And whoever has an idea of cricket the past 20 years or so will have seen how bloody good...how bloody consistent... and how bloody entertaining this team has been THROUGHOUT. SA has had some of the most phenomenal ODI players like Cronje, Rhodes, Kluesner, Pollock, Donald, ABD etc. They have given fans some of the best matches in cricket history. They successfully chased the highest score (434 vs Australia)....they have set the second highest target in ODI history (439 vs WI)...and so many more. How is it fair that even after all this time, such a deserving team does not get its due?
I remember SA vs Aus 1999 WC semifinals is what really hooked me on to cricket. I remember clearly my 9-10 year old self kneeling down to the ground and wailing "No...no...nooooo" when that famous run out happened. It is weird. I dunno why I felt that strong affinity towards the Proteas despite South Africa not even being my country. From that time on...I was a Proteas fan. Then came the 2003 WC which was another disaster (that blasted combination of rain and D/L method again!) that almost gave me a stroke with my all time favourite cricketer Shaun Pollock getting sacked as a captain as a result. Year after year, I was left lamenting over SA's infamous "choking" habit in all those critical matches in global tournaments where they would get knocked out. I guess I have innumerable status on social media like Orkut and Facebook dedicated to this subject. In fact once, I even got a comment - "It would be nice if you could worry about your country for a change!" I remember all those tense situations in a match where I have actually muttered prayers like- "God, they really deserve to win - please please pleeeeeease get them through". Where the WC is concerned, they are yet to be answered,
I guess after all this, probably the most fundamental question that I want to ask myself is - Why care so much? Why go through such roller coaster emotions for a stupid sport and its players?
To answer this question, I first direct my thoughts to AB de Villers - SA captain and one of my favourite current sportspeople. In terms of talent, this guy is a genius,...not from this planet. But what I do love about him the most is a description of him that I read in a newspaper when he started blossoming as a cricketer way back in 2007. The article in the mentioned newspaper went like "What strikes you most about AB de Villers is that he is incredibly humble and down to earth and yet his body language oozes with quiet confidence."
What I am trying to illustrate is that ABD is a classic case of what the SA team represents - A set of incredibly inspiring values worthy of emulation. They are supremely talented, confident, good spirited, ethical, low profile, non flamboyant, let their on field rather than off field antics do the talking, very united as a team, intense and very very passionate about their game, competitive, aggressive when required but not boorish, sporting, humble and very nice. They say that professionally, it is difficult to be well liked and well respected at the same time. But the SA cricket team have managed to be the rare combination of both. The outpouring of anguish, support and sympathy for them from cricket fans world over irrespective of their nationality in platforms like Cricinfo, Facebook etc speaks volumes of what a fantastic unit they are and the high esteem they are held in.
The values that they represent are the values that fans like me admire, the value based on which strive to become the persons we have always wanted to be.I guess that's why it hurts so bad when a sports team/player who is representative of all those values that you cherish don't get rewarded the way that you want them to.
But know what, despite all the heartache, I feel more inspired by the Proteas rather than deflated. As after every loss, I find myself armed with the hope that maybe.... just maybe next time will be their time. Even in the scenario of them never winning a WC in my lifetime or the scenario of them winning a WC but me completely having stopped following and caring about cricket by then, I will never ever ever look back and have regrets all those times I emotionally invested in a sports team and players. The SA cricket team were well worth it.
In short, as Cricket South Africa has so beautifully put it....
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